I was into astronomy and star gazing for some 30 years and in that time I never saw a rare phenomena called noctilucent clouds. These ultra rare glowing wispy clouds only occur at near space altitudes of about 200,000 ft and are made of tiny ice crystals formed from meteor dust particles and water vapour in extremely cold temperatures of around -130 degrees Celsius.
On late Spring and early Summer nights for some 30 years I would look out for these clouds longingly but to no avail. I had to give astronomy up when I got married and time was not my own. I said goodbye to my telescope (that had shown me incredible sights) and thought that was that with seeing the wonders of the sky.
Last night however my Wife and I waved family friends off from our house at about 11pm and as we walked back to our house I looked up and inhaled the fresh Summer like air and my heart genuinely missed a beat and my eyes bulged as all I could see overhead were haunting glowing wispy quite beautiful noctolucent clouds. I couldn't talk for ten seconds or so. My Wife knew what the moment meant to me and understood when I ran inside to grab my S21 Ultra and throw it into night mode and wide angle lens and take the shot below holding my phone so still through the 5 second time countdown. It did not let me down and captured better detail and light than my eyes did.
